installation-art

Parallax from Incredible Bob on Vimeo. At its best, art can change a perspective, or change the way you see. In the installation “Parallax” by our friend Incredible Bob, that’s meant literally – very literally. Using hacked viewfinders and analog video tech, the Belgrade-based artist shows the viewer what happens when the perspective of your eyes is reversed – without the screaming, bleeding, and vision loss that might otherwise risk. He writes: Parallax is a binocular video installation made out of two hacked VHS viewfinders crossed with 2 CCTV bullet cameras. When you look at it, your eyes become crossed, …

Cubepix Demo Test – by Xavi’s Lab from Glassworks Barcelona on Vimeo. The next step in projection mapping: kinetic projection mapping. Moving beyond the sometimes-clinical use of projection mapping to use three-dimensional objects as a surface, the addition of the kinetic makes the surface itself part of the motion. Cubepix is a direct, lovely implementation of that notion, as an array of cubes moves in concert with the images displayed on them. This project also clearly recalls the work of Daniel Rozin, whose wooden mirrors – one most notoriously displayed in the entrance lobby of NYU’s ITP media tech program …

Music is deeply tied up with motion; seeing that in a machine is somehow satisfying. Soundmachines, from the enigmatically-titled Berlin studio TheProduct*, is an interactive physical installation made from optical turntables. By moving the “tone arm” – really in this case an optical sensor attached to an extended mount – you can change rhythms and sound sweeps. We’ve naturally seen many visualizations, tangible and digital, that make loops into wheels. But it’s worth noting the particular connection to a kinetic experiment by The Books’ Nick Zammuto from the film earlier this week. In fact, my one criticism of this piece …

At first glance, the visuals seem mysterious and almost intentionally obscure. Then, as you watch the dance of pixellated artwork in “Dot,” you see moments of strange, lonely beauty. Brazilian-based audiovisual artist and regular reader Henrique Roscoe (aka vj 1mpar) writes us to describe his work: This is an audiovisual performance with synchronized sounds and images, played by a ‘game console’ built and programmed by the artist, and controlled by retro videogame (Nintendo) joysticks. The instrument is completely autonomous and works without the need of a computer, using only a projector and sound system to play its content. All images …

El Criollo – Interactive Installation from Hotpixel on Vimeo. Interactive technology is often celebrated for its ability to make visitors and onlookers into participants. Here, in a show in Mexico, that involvement is literal, as custom software weaves the words and faces of museum visitors into a portrait of the Mexican nation today. From the creators: The installation updates portraits, voice messages and drawings from the visitors a large projected map in a room updates the information in real time, this room reflects a modern identity of Mexico based on the collection of ideas from the people. This installation was …

Reasons to be thankful: it seems we’re at the beginning of an explosion of projected digital imagery as medium, with the best yet to come. And some of the most compelling work right now deals with the most elemental qualities of this medium, how light and space interact. Take the work of hc gilje. He shares some of his most recent projects, which include the elegant-looking theatrical projections at top: I was invited by Trøndelag Teater to do a combined physical set design with video projections. It was an adaptation of the Norwegian literary classic “Fuglane” (“The Birds”) by Tarjei …

Cúpula sonora / Palacio Salvo from chindogu on Vimeo. Like a digitally deconstructed then reconstructed architectural fragment, VJ Chindogu’s Cúpula Sonora stands as an audiovisual object, with music by David Duchov. I like Chindogu’s term of “ephemeral sculpture” here, as there is a sense of that as the cupola pulses and vibrates. And while I think the rectangular screen probably has life left in it, what’s striking as a result is that the object becomes for me autonomous and self-sufficient. Chindogu aka Marcelo Vidal has a long resume of work, ranging from stage design to galleries, visual performance, and architectural …

Augmented Sculpture by GROSSE8 & LICHTFRONT / Passagen 2010 from Lichtfront on Vimeo. Part of the beauty of projection is its ability to mix light and sculpture, so it’s with great pleasure that I come across this fantastic, organic and origami-like work by Cologne-based Grosse8/Lichtfront. The big accomplishment of this work, evident only as you watch the camera pan around the piece, is that it is made 360 degrees in the round. The core of the installation is a 2,5m tall wooden sculpture that builds the screen for a 360° projection with virtual content. The projection constantly augments the sculptures …

blink (hc gilje 2009) from hc gilje on Vimeo. HC Gilje sends a wonderful new installation he has just opened this month in Norway. Here, mapping projections into the space is a kind of improvisation on the architectural volume, a way of playing with the space itself. Even without any particular projection mapping tricks, the “flat” projection” does take on depth in three dimensions. HC also tells us a Kindergarten class got to explore the space, and evidently had a ball fooling around in the light. (Kids are always the best audiences.) As he describes the work: Combining mapped projection …

lights on from thesystemis on Vimeo. Digital visuals are often confined to a screen or a panel of wall. So there’s something magical about projects that get an entire building as a canvas. “Lights” is a live audiovisual performance for the Ars Electronica museum in Linz, Austria. The facade has some 1085 LED windows, controllable in real-time. The performance involved coordinating these windows with broadcast music. The work was put together, stunningly, in just three days. OpenFrameworks, the artist-focused, C++-based code framework for “creative coding”, became a critical part of the process, assembling all of the real-time visuals. Zach Lieberman, …